English Reference

Word

unreal

Phoneticsun·re·al

US/ənˈɹiɫ/

UK/ʌnɹˈiəl/

Definitions

01not real

B2

adj. not real or existing in the physical world; like a dream or a story.

adj. lacking existence in reality; existing only in the imagination or as a theoretical concept.

“The bright colors in the dream felt so unreal when I woke up.”

“The landscape had an unreal quality, as if the mountains had been painted onto the horizon rather than formed by nature.”

02amazing or incredible

B2

adj. so good, impressive, or strange that you can hardly believe it is true.

adj. extraordinary or incredible to an extreme degree; often used to express high praise or shock.

“The view from the top of the mountain was absolutely unreal.”

“The athlete's performance during the final minutes of the game was simply unreal, leaving the commentators and the crowd in total disbelief.”

Informal

Usage

Often used with intensifiers like 'absolutely' or 'totally' in spoken English.

Synonyms

Etymology

From un- + real.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry

Level
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Frequent
Updated

Scan code

englishreference.com/q/unreal

English Reference